25th November 2014, Tuesday
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| Tickets Package |
Today, we would be going to
Cingjing Farm to see baa baa sheeps...running around in their green green grassland. I woke up at around 6 plus at first, was still dead tired...slept again until it was almost 8 am...and the first bus out to the farm was 8.20 am. So we rushed out and my friend went to the hotel canteen to grab 2 breads, then we rushed out to the same tour bus office to buy our tickets packages to the farm. It costs NT$600, which included a return bus tickets and the entrance tickets into the green green grassland (青青草原). While the staff was calling for passengers going to the farm to queue, i ran to find my friend who was in a cafe and i told her faster faster, bus coming soon. Then i went out first to queue in the line....she came back 1 or 2 mins before the bus came. Then she was saying the cafe guy was sooooo slow until she wanted to tell him can he speed up abit....hohoho...and she only bought 1 cup of hot choco, just for me...hehehee....
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| View from Bus |
Then the bus went off, but first the bus would need to go to Puli Bus Terminal again to pick up passengers. On the way there, saw a super big Ji Gong Statue along the freeway and the whole freeway was just mountains and mountains....We reached Puli Bus Terminal at around 9.30 am, then from there was another 2 hours up to the farm. It was all mountain roads (round and round), when it reached cingjing area. When it first entered the cingjing area, i was greeted by The Old England (老英格蘭), a traditional English mansion which was standing on the road (my friend was sleeping due to the zigzag roads). And after that, you will see nice nice scenery from the top. Saw a half-dried up Emerald Lake). We got off at the wrong bust stop again, we should be going to green green grassland first, but we alighted at cingjing farm visitors information centre. I only realized it when there was a lady asking the driver after we alighted...hehheee....But anyway, due to the wrong stop, we smelled something very very fragrant. It was egg rolls made with goat's milk, the lady let us try and it was really nice. We were thinking whether to buy first or buy later, as we always end up at weird places, we were also thinking we may not even be coming down here to buy it as the last bus stop was at the top, which was the green green grassland.
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| Swiss Garden |
While i was worrying we were not able to get on the last bus (which was around 4 plus) back to Taichung, my friend was worrying she was not able to get a seat to sit down on the bus (she got motion-sickness on mountain roads)...but anyway, we also cannot do much now. So we walked to
Swiss Garden, which was down the mountain. It costs NT$120 each to enter the garden, it was a small garden for flowers. But i think our timing was not correct cos most of the flowers had already withered away. Only a few kinds were left standing, we took our time to walk slowly and enjoy the place as much as we could. There were ducks there too, managed to see water fountain performance too (just water 'dancing'). After the garden, we took a cab up to green green grassland. As much as i wanted to go visit the old England which was at the bottom, i had to skip it cos it was too far to walk. It cost NT$200 from swiss garden to green green grassland, and as we already had our entrance tickets, we went in (there wasn't anyone there to check the tickets too anyway). There, we need to chop a stamp on our hands for re-entry.
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| View From Green Green Grassland |
The place really have a super nice view from the top, blue blue sky and mountains around. And the sheeps were all roaming freely around the big grassland. You can just walk up to any sheep and touch them and feed them with their feeds, which cost NT$10. Their fur feels like carpet....hehee...hard hard one, not soft soft. Then we walked round the place, there was a mini shop and a food stall. So we bought a goat's milk ice cream, a sausage and a bamboo rice. There was kittens and cat around the place too and there was warning board to indicate the cats bite, don't feed them. There was one cat which it just sat beside me and waited for me to feed it. The sausage and the bamboo rice wasn't nice, the ice cream was hard as stone....hahaha.....so we put out under the sun to melt it. Then we walked down to the center stage, where there were more people trying to feed the sheeps, as to get their attention and take photos with them. There were 2 horses and 2 ponies there too, for customers to take a ride around the stage area and take photos. It costs NT$150 per pax and NT$200 (special offer) to get a horse ride. By the way, the stage area was full of sheeps' poos because the sheeps were eating and pooing there too. So there was a stretch of smelly smell there too...And when there was a black color sheep walked in to the stage, everyone rushed to take photos with it...like a star had entered...lol..
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| Black Baa Baa Sheep |
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| Sleepy Horse |
Then we walked walked again while waiting for 2.30 pm which was supposed to be a show. We also just sat around the stage and just looked at the other people, feeding the sheeps, taking photos with the horses and sheeps. I was telling my friend, luckily she brought me to Philippines to ride horses first. It was really not worth to ride the horses here for NT$150, the riding area was small and it was only 1 round. But of course, there were still people paying for it, those with children. Then we saw 1 kid, quite big age, got on the ponies, without the staff's supervision. The dad was also just trying to get a shot of his son on the ponies. And the kid was still shaking on the pony. And later we also saw a family trying to put their children up on the horses so to get photos, while the staff was not around. And they all looked like Singaporeans.....haiz....-_-"....Luckily the staff quickly ran back and asked them to stop and pay for the ride if they really want to take photos with the horses. Pity the horses and ponies, they really looked very sad and sleepy there....But imagine if the horses or ponies run off with the kids on the back and without the staff's supervision, who would be blamed?
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| Goat's Milk Egg Rolls (Must Try!) |
When it was reaching 2.30 pm, i was wondering why there was no announcement on the show. Then i checked the brochure again...alamak, it was 2.30 pm alright, but it was for weekends and holidays. Today wasn't holidays nor weekends....wu long.....hahahaa....Then i told my friend quick quick go already, need to go down buy egg rolls....We exited out from the other entrance, which was at the other side of the grassland. There, were some stalls selling food products, one auntie let us try bamboo shoots soup. And there were the supporters for a political candidate, who had came by and meet the stall owners to get their votes. We walked as we tried to catch a cab down to the visitors information center. Managed to catch one, there was 1 lady passenger on the cab, so the driver told us we pay NT$100 and the other lady pay NT$100. We bought 6 boxes of the egg rolls, it costs NT$130 for 9 pieces per box (quite exp too, although 1 box was free). As there was still 1 hour waiting time for the last bus to reach our bus stop, we went upstairs to check out a restaurant. It looked pricey and there was an additional of 10% service charge too (not many people inside too). So we went down and had our lunch in a French eating place....hmmmm...the food wasn't so bad or wasn't so nice either...slightly better than my last night's dinner. After eating, my friend said she wants to go down the road to buy fruits. We bought 1 snow pear, persimmons and goat's milk candy and asked the auntie to cut the fruits for us.
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| Sweet, Try Try!! |
After that, we went to the bus stop to wait for the bus to come. My friend was really worried she won't be able to get a seat. A cab driver came by and asked us whether want to take his cab back to Taichung. I told him we got return tickets already, and he drove off looking for other passengers. And another van driver came by and also asked us want to take his van back. Same thing, i also told him we got return tickets. Then later, there was a couple came by and waited at the bus stop too. The same cab driver drove up back and asked the couple whether they want to take his cab. He quoted them NT $350 per pax and 1 hour faster back to Taichung. As it was getting near to the bus's arrival time, there were a few more people waiting at the bus stop (1 group was even senior citizens group). Then another cab uncle came by and was asking anyone wants to take his cab. When i told him we got return tickets already, he said he will buy our tickets packages and told me to top up another NT$50 per pax. Then i was thinking, why not? Although i wasn't aware what he will do with the tickets, i was more concerned that my friend will vomit on the bus and plus if we were not able to board the last bus, it will be headache too. So we took the cab back to Taichung (also saved us 1 hour time as we don't have to route to Puli). The cab uncle later told me that they can actually return the bus tickets to the bus company if it wasn't being used. Even we can go return, will get refund back...like around NT$120 plus after minus the used entrance fees for the farm and the trip to the farm and some admin fees too. He had been driving up and down the area for more than 10 years, so he had the experience. He said the previous cab driver don't dare to offer to buy our tickets was because he didn't know this method.
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| 恶魔鸡排 |
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| 1 box of 冰火波蘿油 |
Anyway, the ride was quite rough and bumpy. By the time we alighted just opposite our hotel, my friend was already giddy and almost wanted to vomit. The cab uncle charged us NT$100 per pax, i didn't ask him, i just thought maybe it was because i requested him to drive to our hotel instead of the train station. Then we went back to the hotel to rest first, we agreed to go back to Fengjia market again for dinner instead of just buying dinner randomly. When we reached our room, i stepped on a pool of water on the floor. We were wondering why there was water on the floor. It seems like the water came from the fridge. So i had to call the hotel staff to help mop the floor. Luckily, our fruits inside the fridge didn't get bad. After the staff mopped the floor, we rested for a while first before making our way down to the night market. This time, we were able to walk more there and i bought the same baked potato with cheese (nice nice) and we bought 7 of 冰火波蘿油 breads (equal to 1 box) and we tried some other food there...got a stall selling chicken cutlet called Devil Chicken Cutlet (恶魔鸡排), it was having a long queue too. What's special was this chicken cutlet was thicker on the meat, at least that's what it was stated....hahahaa...We bought 1 to try anyway....nice too....After that, we just went back to the hotel with our snacks, and then rest time!!!
Hotel Stayed: VIP Hotel
Places Visited:
Cingjing Farm
Swiss Garden
Fengjia Night Market
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